Amy tackles her eating habits and triumphs in the pool

Here's my problem with food: I love it a bit too much.

At any given time, there's nothing I'd rather be doing than eating. Food simply makes me happy.

Anyone who knows me knows this. According to my friends, the best way to get me into the city on weekends is to promise free food. According to my mom, I'd be asking about lunch while still eating breakfast.

Here's a list of my favorites: pizza, ice cream, pasta, popcorn, steak, eggs, potatoes and chocolate brownies. I even like fruits and veggies.

I always try to eat a mix of both the good and bad stuff. However, when I get on a bad kick -- usually toward the end of the week -- it often becomes a free-for-all that becomes impossible to stop until the start of the next week.

In other words, my mentality thus far hasn't exactly been "every calorie counts." More like, "I already ate half that pizza, so I may as well throw in a hot dog and Oreo Blizzard, too!"

As you can imagine, this has become a minor problem while training for the U.S. Women's Sprint Triathlon in Naperville on June 22. While all this working out has helped me tone up and gain muscle, I haven't really lost any weight. (I'm aiming to get to 120, or lose five to seven pounds.)

Some of it, admittedly, may be that I'm gaining muscle. But that can't be the whole story.

A quick glance through my food log also tells me I'm eating out way too much.

While I'll never cut treats completely -- or calorie count -- I know at the very least I need to make a real effort to eat out less. Just plain eating less probably wouldn't hurt, either.

This isn't an easy thing.

For one, I work in an office where employees believe in starting early. By 9 a.m. Monday, someone has put out bagels and a chocolate pan cake in the kitchen. On Tuesday, it's two pies, one strawberry and one banana. (These same pies, by the way, also feel the need to make an appearance the next day.)

I won't even get started on the office candy drawer or the numerous work lunches, either.

I end up pretty much avoiding the kitchen completely this week. There may well have been other treats on Thursday and Friday, but in this case, ignorance is bliss.

Sounds obvious, but such treats are much easier to pass up when I'm feeling full. So I make sure to have three meals a day (Mom was right -- breakfast really is the most important meal.) Instant oatmeal with skim milk and blueberries is surprisingly filling. My favorite: turkey sausage with a whole egg and two egg whites.

I eat snacks, like fruit, string cheese or low-fat yogurt, and drink water throughout the day. Before dinner, I'll try to start with a small cup of broth-based soup or a salad, which also helps fill me up.

I eat out five times this week -- still too much, but I am making better choices when I do. At a work lunch, I order a turkey burger on wheat with fruit instead of fries. At Dairy Queen, I get a Dilly Bar (made with reduced-fat ice cream!) rather than my usual Oreo Blizzard -- a difference of at least 500 calories. And at the Mexican restaurant at the end of the week, I choose chicken fajitas with corn tortillas over my favorite, chicken and cheese enchiladas (which are pretty much a fat attack.)

By the end of the week, I'm feeling a bit more in control of my eating. I've also been reading a lot about nutrition and food lately, which helps me stay on track.

My progress continues training-wise, too. One highlight: I've learned how to comfortably use my bike gears (those little tiny things have always scared the heck out of me.)

The biggest highlight is my improvement in the pool. I'm a new person! Two weeks ago, I could barely swim two laps. Early this week, I do 13 laps, or 26 lengths of the pool. (My goal, a half-mile, is about 16 laps.)

For me, swimming really has been a mental thing. I'd created such a fear of it, avoiding it for weeks and weeks. It's not that I couldn't do it -- it's thinking that I couldn't do it that ultimately was holding me back. When I finally just got into the pool and tackled it, I found it wasn't as hard as I thought. I'd say it was even somewhat enjoyable.

By the end of the week, I reach 16 laps!

Now I know the gym pool is nothing like swimming in open water, alongside hundreds of other people. But when I finish, I have to stop myself from jumping up and down and cheering.

Not sure if a "swimmer's high" exists, but leaving the gym that day, I know that's what I've got.